


Powers AU: Rooster Teeth Backstories

by rosesofenvy



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Characters will be added depending on whether or not they are included in the backstories, F/F, F/M, M/M, PowersAU, and they will also be included as their stories are typed, relationships will be left in the air for now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-02 13:59:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2814503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesofenvy/pseuds/rosesofenvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the series of back-stories I have begun writing for my PowersAU. I will update tags and such as the stories are posted.<br/>The main story is 'Running Like It's Our Jobs' which has A LOT more information on the story, if you haven't read it already. This is only a series of backstories. Sorry for any confusion that might've arose because of this!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ray

Ray hated his job at the bar, he hated the people that he always had to deal with, and he hated having to serve them drinks and be nice to them as they got progressively more drunk as the night would trudge on.   
  
The usual three am 'rush', aka the usual's, had begun to trickle in when Ray realized that the night would be trickier than normal.   
  
A group of guys stumble in while Ray is halfway through his shift, and it's obvious that they'd been drinking already.   
  
Ray watches the group carefully as he sets down an order of drinks for a couple, seeing a coworker, Kara, approach the table with her unwavering confidence. He can't hear her, but she knows what she's saying.   
  
"May I take your orders, sirs?"  
  
Ray can feel himself growing wary of the group as three of the five eye Kara up and down before smirking at each other. He tucks the tray underneath of his arm and retreats back to the bar, where the bartender is also eying the customers.   
  
He almost misses it, but he can clearly see the guy closest to Kara reach down to grope her ass, grinning lewdly and laughing with his buddies as Kara stalks away.   
  
Before she could storm into the backroom, Ray catches ahold of her arm.   
  
"Hey, I'll take the drinks to the table," He says, choosing to ignore her angry mutter of 'I can handle myself.' She doesn't protest any more than that, simply handing over the list of drinks and walking back  to the kitchen to give the cook the rest of the orders.   
  
"Don't throw the first punch," The bartender tells him gruffly, sliding the glasses onto the tray. He nods at the bartender in thanks and in recognition of his warning. Ray grimaces at the thick smells of the alcohol before slipping on a neutral expression as he walks over.   
  
"Aw what happened to the pretty waitress," The guy who'd groped Kara whines, looking at Ray distastefully.   
  
"She was nice too, bring her back we don't want no pretty boy," Another one grumbles. Ray forces down the glare he's tempted to shoot and slams down the last glass onto the table, not caring that some it sloshes over his hand.  
  
"Will that be all?" He asks coolly.   
  
"Can you get us the pretty waitress again, I got somethin' to ask her," The guy requests. Ray has to force himself not to haul off and slug him right then and there.   
  
"I'm afraid she's busy at the moment," Is all Ray says, turning to leave, but unable to before he feels a meaty hand wrap around his wrist.   
  
"I wasn't asking, you should go get her for us," The guy says, sneering when Ray fixes him with a glare.   
  
"Let go of me please," Ray requests trying his damnedest to be polite. He tries to pull away from the grip, but finds himself being tugged closer.   
  
"Are you going to go get her?" The guy asks, tightening his grip. Ray's pulled close enough to smell the alcohol on his breath.  
  
"No, if you don't mind, I need to get back to work," Ray jerks his arm away, reeling back slightly.   
  
"Hey don't fuckin' walk away you fuck," The guy lunges forward, grabbing at Ray's shoulder. Ray quickly knocks the hand away, stumbling backward. He can't regain his balance when the guy throws a punch him, afterwards managing to sloppily tackle him to the ground.   
  
Ray struggles, hearing yelling all around him. The bastard pinning him to the ground him elbows him in the face, and Ray can feel the blood beginning to drip down his chin from a split lip.   
  
The oaf is suddenly off of him, and Ray sits up unsteadily, holding the back of his hand against his lip. The security is holding the guy back, both guys looking at the drunkard with an annoyed glare.  
  
Ray nods his thanks and stands, picking the tray off of the ground and setting it on the table before retreating to the back room to inspect his face. He stands in the employee workroom, taking a few steadying breaths before taking a few tissues and dabbing them at his lip. At least his glasses hadn't been broken.   
  
He huffs out an annoyed sigh, brushing off the slight pains he can now feel and returns out front, seeing that Kara was working on sweeping up the broken glass that had shattered all over the ground when the table had been knocked over.   
  
Ray hurries to help, ignoring Kara's protests to instead work on the tables, replying with 'it's my fault'.

 

* * *

 

After being yelled at by the manager, and accepting the fact that he got half the amount of tips he should've gotten in return for paying for the few broken glasses, Ray walks out into the cool night air, hoping that it'd soothe his anger-warmed skin.   
  
It's almost odd how warm he feels, maybe he's coming down with something.   
  
As he tries to quickly walk back to his apartment, he hears the unsteady stumbling of footsteps behind him. One person. He curses fluently underneath his breath and speeds his pace, only hearing his pursuer match it. Before he can react, they suddenly catch up to him, and drag him back into an alley.   
  
His yells are muffled by a gross, sweaty hand, and none of his desperate kicks or punches land before he's knocked senseless against a wall.   
  
"You ruined my fun for the night boy, you realize you'll have to pay for that right?"  
  
Ray recognizes the voice as the bastard in the bar. Fucker. He stands, vision blurry due to the lack of glasses. He had lost them when he was knocked against the wall.   
  
He can't even try to block the punches, only able to fit in punches and kicks when he can. It's only when he's shoved against the wall, a hand wrapped around his throat does the guy speak again.   
  
"How old are you?"  
  
Ray grasps at the guys arm, digging his fingernails in the best he can. Trying anything get this guy off of him. He slams Ray's head into the wall again, hard enough for lights to flash in front of his eyes.   
  
"Answer me bitch."  
  
"N-nineteen," Ray hisses out, air supply getting harder to reach. He feels his skin getting warm again, striking worry deep in his mind but choosing to ignore it in favor for trying to get free.   
  
"Oh, you don't look it. And working at a bar?" He stops talking, lowering Ray enough so that he could rest his feet on the ground. Before he can cough out some sort of answer, he feels the last of his air leave him as he's kneed in the stomach. He curls in, trying to recover but unable to as the guy hits him against the wall again.  
  
"I could kill you, you know. It would be easy," His voice is getting further away, and Ray tries desperately not to lose consciousness.   
  
"As easy as this." The hand presses down completely around his throat. Ray chokes, clawing at the guys arm, trying to get the bastard to let go because he can't fucking breath.   
  
A crackling noise reaches his ears, seconds after the screaming begins.   
  
Ray falls to the ground and coughs, tasting copper as he tries to get air back into his lungs. The smell of burning skin reaches him as he tries to take deeper breaths. Ray glances up, wondering what the hell the guy is freaking out about before he sees his arms. He's tempted to scream himself before he looks down at his own arms and sees the flames licking up and down the skin.   
  
He scrambles back, trying to douse the flames and simultaneously get away from the guy. They aren't going away, and he's not exactly gaining much distance, and it's just making him panic more.   
  
"You-you fucking freak! What the hell have you done to me!" The guy yells, voice cracking as he grows more furious.   
  
"I-I-!" Ray tries to stutter out some response, but his voice is so faint it wouldn't have helped. He stumbles to his feet and runs.   
  
And doesn't stop.

* * *

  
He takes shelter in an abandoned store on the edge of the city, hunkering down in the corner and avoiding the broken glass as he examines his arms.   
  
"What did I do?" He asks himself, voice croaking. The run hadn't done any favors for him, it had only made him exhausted. He tucks his knees close to his chest and buries his face in his arms.   
  
He can't go back, he knows that much.   
  


* * *

  
  
He doesn't have a plan, all he has is his wallet, his phone, and the clothes he's wearing.   
  
The one thing he knows that he has to do, is get the hell out of New York.   
  
Bus fares aren't awful he quickly finds, and he gets a one way ticket out of the city. Hitchhiking isn't as unappealing anymore as he finds himself passing through multiple states. He picks up odd jobs, enough to get him to where he feels like he needs to go, Texas.  
  
Actually getting there is easily enough, but he hadn't really thought of an afterward plan, and there was no way he had enough money to rent an apartment.   
  
He searches for jobs, eventually finding two low paying jobs that he could use to save up for an apartment. He tries to push the thoughts of what had  happened out of his mind, not wanting to think of how it happened and why, only wishing for it to never happen again.   
  
But that was harder said than done apparently.   
  
Months pass, and Ray is finding the memory of burning skin has faded and he thinks that everything is alright now. Until he meets Ryan.   
  
It wasn't graceful or anything, Ray was in a hurry to get home, and he wasn't paying attention and they literally just bowled each other over.   
  
"Oh Jesus, sorry I wasn't paying attention," Ray apologizes quickly, scrambling to his feet to help the guy up.   
  
"It's fine, I was totally zoning out," The guy replies, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head after standing.   
  
"Uhm," Ray glances around, trying to decide the best course of action. Luckily, he doesn't have to make that decision.   
  
"I'm Ryan," Ryan holds out his hand to shake, and Ray stares at it like an idiot for a few moments before returning the handshake.   
  
"I'm Ray."  
  
"R and R," Ryan grins, "Sorry sorry stupid name thing."  
  
Ray grins, "Nah man, that's cool."   
  
He watches Ryan carefully, because there's something odd about him that he just can't quite figure out. The man is probably older than him, taller, but that's not what's catching his attention.   
  
Ryan pulls his phone out of his pocket and mutters something under his breath, "Hey sorry my boss is telling me to get my ass back before I have more work to do, maybe I'll see you around Ray."  
  
Ray tilts his head to the side a bit in confusion, _see me around_?  But grins and agrees, "Yeah man, see you."  
  
Sitting in his apartment that night, Ray realizes that Ryan's hair looked majorly wind ruffled, but it hadn't been windy for days.   


* * *

  
  
Another few weeks pass before Ray sees Ryan again, and it's by chance once again. The walk home consists of side streets with little pedestrians, which Ray is glad for because he'd had a rough day and he can tell that his skin is much warmer than it should be. He tries to calm down the best he can, but it's easier said than done, and when he sees someone walking towards him, he's really tempted to turn around and avoid them until they pass, until the person calls out.   
  
"Ray!"  
  
He pauses in his retreat and takes a moment to recognize the man in the dim light of the street.   
  
"Ryan?"  
  
"Hey, you alright? You look a bit flushed," Ryan comments almost immediately, reaching out and touching Ray's arm. He raises an eyebrow at the warmth, but doesn't mention it yet.   
  
"Oh, uh, they had the heaters on instead of the A/C, simple mistake right," Ray says quickly, thinking of a lie on the spot.   
  
"Wow that had to suck, but still, you're weirdly warm."  
  
Ray tries to force his skin to cool but since he isn't even sure what this power or whatever even is, it doesn't exactly work out as well as he'd hoped. He faintly sees a spot on his arm almost glowing, and he hurries to cover it with his hand.   
  
"Naturally warm blooded?" Ray says with an almost questioning tone, not even believing the lie himself.  
  
Ryan chuckles, "Well humans are naturally warm blooded so I think that would count towards body heat and such. So anyway, I wanted to ask, when did you get here? I haven't seen you around until recently."  
  
Ray's heart pounds, "I-I got here some months ago, I moved from New York."  
  
Ryan's eyebrows raise, "Well you're certainly used to big cities then aren't you."  
  
"You could say that," Ray mumbles nervously, trying to keep a clamp on the memories of his last days in New York. He starts to breath through his mouth.   
  
"Have you been around the city much? Do you know of the hiking trails and stuff that are a few miles out?" Ryan questions. Ray has a feeling that he's staring at him really closely.   
  
"I haven't really, I'm not much of an outdoorsy person," Ray jokes, chuckling awkwardly.   
  
"Eh, it's understandable," Ryan shrugs.   
  
Ray is about to reply when a loud crash catches both of their attentions. Ray jumps a bit and yelps, feeling his temperature shoot up a few degrees as he looks over at the adjacent alleyway .A cat slinks out from behind knocked over garbage bins.   
  
Both of them laugh at being scared so much before Ryan looks at Ray, then frowns.   
  
"You're hand is on fire."  
  
Ray looks at his hand and yelps again, waving it frantically through the air, finding that that's not helping at all, and actually making it worse.   
  
"Hey hey, I don't think that's helping," Ryan says in concern, quickly grabbing ahold of Ray's arm and keeping a tight grip on it as a quick burst of wind engulfs them.   
  
Ray stares open-mouthed at Ryan, both shocked and embarrassed as the man laughs.   
  
"Sorry, I didn't know what else would really work."  
  
"Th-Th-," Ray tries to stutter out a question, glancing from his hand to Ryan, "The fuck was that?"  
  
"Just a little thing I can do," Ryan says, grinning mischievously. Ray scowls and Ryan laughs again, "No, I'm joking, it's a sort of power. You know, over wind. Like what you have over fire."  
  
Ray stares at Ryan, "Power over fire." He repeats blankly.   
  
Ryan tilts his head and frowns, "Do you not...when did you find out about the fire thing."  
  
"Literally about six months ago," Ray replies.   
  
Ryan's eyes widen, "Holy shit, really?" Ray nods.   
  
He's speechless for a few moments, before looking thoughtful, "I think you should come with me to work."  
  
Ray raises an eyebrow, "Are you kidnapping me? I assure you I have the scream of a banshee and I'm not afraid to call for help."  
  
"No no I'm not kidnapping you!" Ryan hurries to assure, "My work is a place where us weirdos with powers can figure stuff out, I think you should come with me so that you can...figure things out."  
  
Ray stares at Ryan suspiciously for a few more moments, eyes narrowed as he thinks through his options. This guy didn't really seem all that harmful, and if he was offering to teach him how to control this bullshit fire stuff...  
  
"Sounds like a deal, I'll do it," Ray agrees coolly, smiling shallowly.   
  
"Great!" Ryan grins, "My bike is parked near here, that way it won't take a ridiculous amount of time and energy to get there.   
  
Ray follows Ryan to a parking garage, only able to think: What the hell am I doing.  


* * *

  
  
Ray stands nervously in front of the "higher ups", meaning a British guy around his age named Gavin, and four other guys all near Ryan's age.   
  
"What do you think Gavin?" The guy who'd introduced himself as Geoff asks lazily, "I'm not getting any bad vibes."  
  
Gavin hums noncommittally, 'staring' at Ray. The teen had noted early on that the British guy was blind.   
  
"I say he's fine, what about you Gus, Matt," Burnie asks, looking at Ray before glancing at the two others.   
  
"Whatever," Gus mutters, tapping away on the laptop he'd brought.   
  
"We're just here to document shit," Matt sighs.   
  
"You're not just a Fire Elemental," Gavin states suddenly, leaning forward in his chair and resting his chin on interlinked hands.  
  
Geoff's eyebrows crinkle, but he examines Ray a bit more closely, "Well shit, you're right Gavin I missed that."  
  
"What do you mean?" Ray asks nervously, rubbing one of his arms.   
  
You're like Ryan, you've got two skills.  
  
The fuck does that mean?  
  
Gavin grins, "Considering that you were able to reply to that, I think it's safe to say that you're a mind reader."  
  
Ray snorts, not believing it until he really looks at Gavin and sees how smug he is. "You're serious?"  
  
"Completely."  
  
Ray stares open-mouthed for a few moments, before frowning, "This is straight up bullshit," he mutters.  
  
"Well 'bullshit' is our motto here," Gus replies, "You'll get used to it soon enough."  
  
"Get used to it?" Ray asks.  
  
"Yes," Geoff raises an eyebrow, "What else would you do?"  
  
Ray frowns, "I don't know, get rid of it? I really don't want this shit to be honest."  
  
"Well that's too bad, because there's no way to get rid of it," Gavin replies almost coldly, "You're two options are to one, return to your life an unstable fire elemental or two, learn how to control your powers here."  
  
A scowl forms on Ray's face now, "You're saying that I have to learn how to control it?"  
  
"Two. Options." Gavin replies.  
  
 _Ray, fire elementals are the most...temperamental, it would be for your best interest to stay here and learn how to control them._  
  
Ray has to fight not to look at Ryan, instead answering through what he decides is a mind link. _My best interest? What do you think I'm just going to burn anyone who pisses me off?_  
  
 _No,_ Ryan replies calmly, _I just don't want you to accidentally hurt someone._  
  
Ray thinks of that night in New York.  
  
 _...I just have to learn how to control them right? Then I can go live in the city again?_  
  
 _If you really want to._  
  
Ray takes a deep breath to calm himself, realizing that his hands had been smoking a bit, "Fine, I'll stay."  
  
Gavin loses his annoyed expression, smiling slightly, "Good, I'm sure you'll be fine."  
  
Once Ryan leads Ray out, Gavin turns to Geoff.  
  
"He'll end up here for awhile, he and Ryan will be quite the powerful pair."  
  
"Glad to hear it," Geoff grumbles, "He nearly knocked me out."  
  



	2. Michael

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is rather short in comparison to Ray's, but I condensed the information more than with Ray's.   
> I might add more detail into this later...but for the time being here it is.

* * *

 

Apparently walking through walls isn't normal for a twelve year old.

Michael had figured that out when his mom screamed at him to stop and use the door like a person with any bit of common sense.

It wasn't really his fault, he wanted to just walk over to the next room without going through the door (which took so much time in his opinion) and plus it was fun. Especially when he found out that he could go halfway across the house if he really wanted to.

It's only when he's taken out of school to go to the doctors that he realizes that he's in real trouble. Hours of waiting in uncomfortable chairs and looking down white hallways and wishing that the probing doctors would just leave him alone leads into his hatred of the damn visits and in extension his mother who refused to stop carting him around.

He began to miss school more often than not, especially when overnight doctors visits started occurring. Coupled with the tests and drugs used to keep him from teleporting, he probably wouldn't make it through a full day of school anyway.  
  
Things had started to cool down a bit when he was thirteen, until his brother tried to copy him. His mother gradually noticed when Michael's brother tried to follow him through walls, or make random objects out of thin air.  
  
And she didn't like that at all.  
  
Which lead to Michael ending up in an experimental facility. For good.

* * *

  
At first Michael had been naive, thinking that this was just another overnight visit and his mom would be back for him in the morning, until she's not. Cold fear gradually grips him as the days pass by, going into months, and then into years.  
  
He figures out quickly what their aim was as he meets others who are in the same situation. The main aim was of course finding out how these kids are able to do these feats like controlling elements and copying others appearances.

Eventually he figures out that he's the most important amongst all the others, as they try to figure out his powers the most. Meeting someone of similar powers to himself is one good example.  
  
He'd been there for two years when they tried out a new experiment. Michael hadn't known what to expect when he was just tossed into a pure white room with smooth tile for the walls and floors, but seeing another teen being thrown in with him wasn't the first thought.  
  
For a second they just stare at each other in cold fear, until Michael feels an unexplained burning hatred form in his mind. An object forms in his hand before flying out of it and towards the other kid. He realizes it's dagger, but before he can lunge forward and stop it, everything seems to slow down.  
  
Except, everything literally slows down, besides the other teen. The guy stares at the dagger still headed for his heart, although now barely inching forward, before reaching forward and grabbing the hilt. The dagger melts in his hand, fading back away in the air. Michael still hadn't learned to control it yet.  
  
Time speeds back up and Michael falls on his face. After growling under his breath, he glances up at the teen, feeling the hatred draining away as he moves to sit cross-legged on the ground.  
  
"Time?" He asks curiously.  
  
"I don't have a watch." The teen replies, a small smirk quirking up the edge of his mouth. Michael rolls his eyes at the poor joke, before he sees the teen nod and sitting down too.  
  
"What's yours?" The teen asks. Michael raises his eyebrows as he registers the British accent.  
  
"Space," Michael replies.  
  
"Ah."  
  
They're both quiet. Michael wonders why the scientists hadn't come to get them yet, maybe they got held up.  
  
"You know what they're trying to do?" Michael asks.  
  
"Nah."  
  
Michael huffs and leans back, annoyed that they're both so quiet, "What's your name?"  
  
"Dan," The teen replies, "You?"  
  
"Michael."  
  
"Nice to meet you Michael," Dan says, tilting his head in a sort of nod, "I'm assuming you've been here for a bit."  
  
"You assume correctly," Michael sighs, "This is the first time they've tossed someone else in with me though."  
  
"It's because we're Phasers, we're some of the ones they haven't figured out yet," Dan replies.  
  
"Phasers?" Michael tilts his head to the side, he hadn't heard that term before. He'd been told that he dealt with Space, but that was it.  
  
"Yeah, like really powerful abilities with Time and Space," Dan says eagerly, a small smile lighting up his face. "It's pretty cool actually! But there aren't that many of us, and plus when two Phasers meet up, they try to kill each other, that's what this experiment was about."  
  
"Wow," Michael breathes, staring wide-eyed at the other teen, "That's intense."  
  
"Yeah," Dan trails off, "I guess they were seeing how far it went."  
  
"Well I stopped hating you after my assassination attempt failed," Michael says jokingly, "I guess once we fail at attacking, we no longer hate each other."  
  
Dan shrugs, "Who knows."  
  
Michael and Dan talk about the classifications of powers until someone opens the door and first drags Michael out before taking Dan.  
  
Michael never saw the Time Phaser after that.

* * *

After three years, when he was eighteen, he and the other kids and teens being held captive decided that they were getting the hell out of there. Escaping from the main facility, where they'd discovered they were being held, had taken almost a year of planning, but boy did it work out. The plan mostly relied on Michael being able to distract the various Guards and scientists. Which he did beautifully.  
  
It was a massive breakout, once Michael got free, he would get the Copiers out-there were two at the time, then he would make sure the Cancel could escape, then finally the two Supers. The elementals had been taken to a different location a week before they'd started planning.  
  
The plan went off without a hitch, to the surprise of each of them, and once they were free and sprinting through the forest, they all split off into different directions. The Cancel talked about going to Texas, having heard about some group of people with powers. Michael decided he would follow once he got some supplies and such together. He wanted to look for that Time Phaser too, he hadn't heard about him since the time he'd tried to kill him.  
  
Which lead to him running practically across the country, being chased by the Guards who refused to give the fuck up. After a few years of searching for the Time Phaser and seeing if it was possible to live normally (it wouldn't be) he decided to see if there was actually a group in Texas.

 Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to find them.


End file.
